Today's News

Students at Midway High School and Cherokee Middle School will be allowed to use iPads, iPhones and iPods during the school day this year.
The go-ahead is part of a trial program on personal communication and personal electronic devices being tested at the two schools.

Janelle Arthur came home to a good crowd Tuesday when the “American Idol” top five finalist joined fellow top 10 contestants at the Thompson-Boling Arena stop on the “American Idol” Live Tour.

The Oliver Springs country sweetheart performed a number of hit songs with her tour mates and sang two numbers showcasing her skills.
Her solo selections included Keith Urban’s “Where the Blacktop Ends,” which she sang during tryouts in her third and successful audition for the reality television program on Fox.

The budget cuts the Roane County Board of Education made last month hit home for County Commissioner Bobby Collier.
Collier’s son Robby taught driver’s education at Roane County High School.
That was one of the things the board cut to balance its budget after the Commission refused the school board’s request for a 14-cent increase in the property tax rate.
Collier expressed his dismay with school officials at Wednesday’s budget committee meeting.

Nicole Lynne Lawson was found guilty of vehicular homicide reckless conduct on Tuesday for her role in a 2009 fatal crash.

The Roane County jury of seven women and five men returned to the courtroom with the verdict at 4:14 p.m. after deliberating for less than 30 minutes.
“I think the jury did the right thing,” Assistant District Attorney General Bill Reedy said. “That’s about all I can say.”

A longtime Rockwood physician known for his caring bedside manner and delivering a number of Rockwood’s children died Tuesday at his home in Sparta.
John Vass Snodgrass Jr., 85, had a medical practice in Rockwood from 1960 until 1993.
Peggy Evans, whose late husband, Dr. Tom Evans, was in medical practice with Snodgrass and the late Dr. Tom Fuller, said three men so caring of their patients could never again be found.

Rocky Houston’s Aug. 19 trial on federal firearms charges has been continued.
U.S. Magistrate C. Clifford Shirley Jr. appointed Michael McGovern to represent Houston on July 31 after Houston complained about his previous attorney.

“The court finds that to require defense counsel to proceed to trial on Aug. 19 would be a miscarriage of justice,” Shirley said in his order continuing the trial.
“Mr. McGovern needs time to meet with the defendant, to review discovery, and to interview witnesses.”

The Roane County Board of Equalization didn’t think the Regions Bank building in downtown Harriman should be appraised at $3.633 million.
The assessor’s office raised it to that amount earlier this year.
On Tuesday equalization board chairman T.H. Brown said the board decided the appraisal should be $1.050 million.
“That was our final adjustment this morning,” Brown said at the conclusion of Tuesday’s equalization board meeting.

A veterans outreach event will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 21 in Harriman Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6598 on Tub Springs Road.
The event is to assist veterans and their families with claims assistance, educational resources and other concerns.
Representatives from state, local and nonprofit agencies will be available to help veterans and their families in Roane, Anderson, Meigs, Morgan and Rhea counties.
Contact Bonnie Johnson, Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs benefits representative, at 594-6158 for more information.

Ah, gentle reader, there are some things which just go on and on and on, no matter what anyone says or does, and the status of constant crisis in the Roane County School System is one of those things.
We have been observing this situation for seventy years now, thus it has been during that whole time and present circumstances seem to promise no resolution in the next seventy years.

By GENE POLICINSKI
First Amendment Center
Jeff Bezos made it clear in founding Amazon.com that he can compete in the marketplace.
We’ll just have to wait and see if he can, and will, do the same thing in the marketplace of ideas — that equally combative zone protected and preserved by the First Amendment’s provision for a free press.